In conventional techniques for a user to find desired A/V content for viewing on a television (TV), the user either reads a program guide or “channel surfs.” The program guide provides a very short description of the A/V content that may not be sufficient for the user to determine whether the A/V content is desired or not. Through “channel surfing,” the user manually skims through all available A/V content by switching from one A/V channel to the next with a handheld remote control device until a desired program is found. This process is slow and time-consuming and can miss some desired programs if the A/V channel is currently showing a commercial. To record desired programming while the user is away from the TV for later viewing, the user must know the exact channel and time period of the program, so the user must use the program guide to find the desired program, since the user cannot “channel surf” while away from the TV. However, the user can easily miss recording desired programs if they are not adequately described in the program guide or if programming is delayed on the given A/V channel. Another limitation of program guides is that some are regional in nature, providing only local information for A/V channels available through local broadcasts or local cable companies. However, with the use of satellite receivers and World Wide Web based programs, users can receive A/V channels that are not included in local program guides, so some desired programs available through these channels can be easily missed.
Close captioning (CC) has been required to be included in broadcast television (TV) programs in the United States since the 1980's. CC is also included in audio/visual (A/V) content provided on digital versatile disks (DVD), also known as digital video disks. Generally, CC is the readable text of words being spoken in the broadcast program, presented simultaneously on the TV screen with the A/V content. Thus, the CC content usually contains the entire verbal content of the broadcast program in textual format. Typically, the CC content is provided for the benefit of people who are hearing-impaired, for whom the audio content of the broadcast program is of no or limited use. Thus, the CC content is generally received, decoded, displayed and discarded. No further use is made of the CC content.
The CC content provides two bytes at a time within the regular broadcast signal during the horizontal blanking interval of an A/V frame, when no A/V content is being sent. At the standard 30 frames per second for broadcast TV in the United States, therefore, 60 bytes of CC content can be received each second. This rate is relatively slow compared to the processing speed of modem digital circuitry, which is capable of processing digital information at a considerably faster rate. The rate at which CC content is received, however, is fast enough to provide text at a rate that most people can read, which is the primary concern for CC.
With respect to DVD, the DVD standards provide for eight tracks of textual sub-titles, which can be used for providing translations of the words spoken in the DVD content into different languages, but can also be used for typical CC. Again, since the textual content does not need to be provided at a rate faster than most people can read, the sub-title or CC content is provided at a relatively slow rate. Also, the sub-title and CC content is read, decoded, displayed and discarded, as mentioned above.
The DVD content is played by a DVD player, or computer with an installed DVD drive and DVD decoder card. A DVD player or computer is typically under the control of a general purpose host processor with firmware and software that controls the hardware for reading, decoding and displaying the DVD content.
The DVD player typically displays the DVD content on a standard TV. Standard TVs are interlaced monitors that display 60 fields per second (30 frames per second) of video. Standard TVs include those that receive a composite video signal that has 300 horizontal lines of resolution, an S-video standard signal that has 400 horizontal lines of resolution, and an RGB (Red, Green, Blue) component video standard signal that has 476 horizontal lines of resolution. The computer, on the other hand, typically displays the DVD content on a progressive monitor. Progressive monitors are noninterlaced monitors that display 60 frames per second. Progressive monitors that are currently available have higher resolutions than the TVs. Such resolutions typically range from 800×600 (i.e. 800 horizontal×600 vertical pixels) to 1280×1024 and higher.
With the higher resolution, the progressive monitors provide a clearer and sharper image than do the standard TVs. Higher resolution and clearer images are particularly beneficial for displaying textual content, such as the CC or sub-title content, since the lettering is sharper and, therefore, easier to read with less eye strain. Viewing DVD content or broadcast programs on a progressive monitor, however, requires that the user also purchase a computer with the installed DVD equipment and/or TV tuner card. Such expense is typically not justified for simply viewing A/V content. Additionally, progressive monitors for computers typically have a much smaller viewing screen than do standard TVs, with 14 to 17 inches being most common for progressive monitors, but 20 to 35 inches being common for standard TVs. However, prices for progressive monitors continue to decrease, while screen sizes increase.
It is with respect to these and other background considerations that the present invention has evolved.